Michigan basketball needs just one more win to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament and the outright Big Ten regular-season championship.
The Wolverines will play Illinois on Friday before playing Iowa and Michigan State to close out the regular season. Regardless of what happens in the next three games, Michigan has earned a triple bye at the Big Ten tournament.
Postseason play, especially a single-elimination format, can be all about the matchups. Michigan basketball matches up well with just about every team. Yet, some teams cause more problems than others, and here are three teams Michigan will want to avoid in the Big Ten tournament if possible.
Wisconsin
The Badgers needed five 3-pointers from Aleksas Bieliauskas to beat Michigan the first time around. He's only made 11 3-pointers the rest of the season (30 percent total).
However, Wisconsin has more size than most teams, with five players who are at least 6-foot-10 on the roster. The Badgers always seem to have a string of bigs who can shoot and rebound. This season is no different.
So Wisconsin won't be intimidated by Michigan's size. The two teams were nearly even on the 2-point battle in Ann Arbor, and a five-out team is one of the matchups that can give Michigan basketball problems, and few teams can do that better than Greg Gard's Badgers.
Illinois
Looking ahead to Friday's game against the Fighting Illini, there might not be a team that matches up better with the Wolverines.
Illinois is one of the tallest teams in college basketball with not one, but two 7-foot-1 players in the rotation, who happen to be brothers, and who combine to average 2.7 3-point field goals per game.
Illinois is ranked 7th nationally with 11.3 3-point field goals per game. They are also one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country with 13.4 per game (21st).
Considering Michigan basketball just allowed a 40 percent offensive rebounding rate to Duke, a smaller team than Illinois, even.
This is a team the Wolverines will want to avoid in the Big Ten tournament.
Michigan State
Michigan actually matches up pretty well with the Spartans. The Wolverines have the players to score one-on-one down low. Tom Izzo hates double-teaming. The problem is that he doesn't have anyone who can guard Aday Mara.
That won't stop the Spartans from trying to be aggressive and physical to get him off his spot. There is an added element of emotion, too.
A rivalry game in the Big Ten tournament is never easy, so I'd rather see Purdue, or just about anyone besides Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament. Getting through two of those games is hard enough.